


(with so much broken, and so much damage) could it be that you've come back to life?

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: this could be good (love is patient, love is kind) [18]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Ninja Steel
Genre: ALL OF THE HUGGING, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aromantic Character, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Pre-Canon, Rare Pairings, Slavery, Touch-Starved, also Sarah is aromantic, also world building within the concept of the Soulmarks, and i'm not sure if that's a good thing, because a kiss connotes passion while a hug means comfort, because why the fuck not, full on body contact hugging, i'm really becoming familiar with this tag, is long lost/separated lovers hugging when they meet, like not kissing or making out, my favorite trope in the book, okay so lemme level with you, so this fic has the hugging, these poor guys don't deserve what I'm doing to them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-17 12:37:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16516640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: Brody, just like every child in the world, had the statistics drilled into him at a young age: if your Soulmate doesn't respond to you within a month, there is a 95% chance that they're dead.Brody is ten years old, already used to the pain of forced labor, and he hasn’t been able to write to Preston in two years. Oil is the only thing that has been staining Brody’s skin, and oil doesn’t move through the Marks like ink does.He knows he has, in all likelihood, become that statistic to Preston.-“Preston?” Brody whispers, the word coming like a prayer to his lips.Preston- his Preston, the Soulmate he's been trying to get back to for ten years now- raises an eyebrow. “Yes?”The words nearly catch in Brody's throat. “I'm Brody. Brody Romero.”Preston's eyes go wide and he stumbles back slightly from Brody. “Brody? But- but you’re dead.” Preston’s eyes narrow, his fists go up, and he shifts into a fighting stance- one that has Brody flinching back from Preston, because he knows that stance, has been thrown into the Arena as pummeling material for fighters using that stance. “Brody’s dead. Who the fuck are you and why are you pretending to be him?”





	(with so much broken, and so much damage) could it be that you've come back to life?

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "I Know Those Eyes/This Man Is Dead" from the Count of Monte Cristo musical, which I have listened a little too much lately and a number of titles from these series seem to be coming from. This fic is written from that song, "Everyday A Little Death," and "I Will Be There."

_And everyday shuffles by like the day before_

_On its way to the blackest of skies_

_And everyday a little death comes and paces the floor_

_And a little bit more of me dies_

_Another day, another week_

_Another month, another year_

_Another night I spend alone_

_Until it’s day again_

**_-The Count of Monte Cristo,_ Every Day A Little Death**

 

 

Brody is five when the Marks start to appear. His first Mark says  _My name is Preston Tien._

Brody is all too happy to respond with: _I'm Brody Romero._ He knows what the Marks are- his older brother Aiden has Marks from  _two_ people- two guys named Matt and Heckyl. Aiden's always told Brody that his Soulmates will bring out the best parts of him- Brody is excited to see what Preston will do. Hopefully, Preston will be just as cool as Aiden's Soulmates!

And Preston  _is_ really cool! Preston is smart and fun and loves magic. There are more doodles of rabbits and top hats on Brody's arms than there are actual words, and Brody loves every one of them. He can't waits until he gets to be old enough to meet Preston on his own- it'll be the best day of his life!

-

Then, when he is seven, he watches his father get defeated, is captured by an alien, and is made into a slave on an alien space ship. His small hands, used to schoolwork and ninja training, are made calloused by the engines of the ship as he is made into a mechanic under an alien named Mick's tutelage. 

He learns rather quickly not to mess up- unlike his teachers at school and his father, the alien masters on the ship have no mercy.  

-

Brody, just like every child in the world, had the statistics drilled into him at a young age: if your Soulmate doesn't respond to you within a month, there is a 95% chance that they're dead.

Brody is ten years old, already used to the pain of forced labor, and he hasn’t been able to write to Preston since he was kidnapped. Oil is the only thing that has been staining Brody’s skin for two years, and oil doesn’t move through the Marks like ink does.

He knows he has, in all likelihood, become that statistic to Preston.

- 

He makes friends with Mick and Redbot when they arrive on the ship when he is eleven-years-old.

“What do those strange Marks on your arm mean?” Mick asks, one day where Preston has decided to write on his arm. It’s nothing special- just a reminder to study for an English test- but Brody treasures it as his only connection to Earth and to the ones he cares about.

“Humans have Soulmates,” Brody says, remembering what his brother told him about his Soulmates. He remembers the happy looks on his father's face when her spoke of his mother, his brother's face when he talked about Matt and Heckyl. “When a human writes on their own skin, then it shows up on someone else's skin too. That person is their Soulmate. They’re believed to be the perfect complement to one’s Soul. Some people have just one Soulmate, while others have two or even three Soulmates. I remember that my brother Aiden had two Soulmates- boys named Matt and Heckyl- as his Soulmates.”

“And your Soulmate, Master Brody?” Redbot asks, and Brody wishes that Redbot would stop calling him that because every time one of Galvanax’s minions hear Redbot call Brody ‘Master’ Brody always ends up getting punished for it. Redbot can’t help it, though- it’s in his programming- so Brody just has to suffer. “What is their name?”

“His name is Preston Tien,” Brody says, “And he probably believes that I'm dead, by this point.”

“Why would he think that, Brody?” Mick asks, seemingly horrified, and Brody points to the Marks on his skin.

“Soulmarks are made with a substance called ink, Mick,” Brody says, “Which we have none of on the ship. I haven’t been able to write him anything in four years, and on Earth, if your Soulmate doesn’t write to you within a month, then they are believed to be most likely dead.” 

Mick musses Brody’s hair (well, what he can muss of it- Brody’s bimonthly haircut, protocol for all slaves, just happened three days ago. His hair is buzzed short, and there’s not much of it left). “Well, I'm sorry, Brody. But just remember that you’ll always have Redbot and I, even if you don’t have this Soulmate of yours.”

Brody grins. “Thanks, Mick.”

-

He spends the ten years after he's captured trying to find a way out, trying to find a way to escape and find Aiden and Preston. He has to reassure them both that he's alive, that he wasn't killed at the same time that his Dad was.

As the years pass, though, hopes begins to die a slow and painful death. Over the years, Preston's drawings come less and less frequently, and despite the pain that it gives Brody he can’t blame his Soulmate. Preston probably thinks he’s long dead by now, and there’s nothing Brody can do to convince him otherwise.

He has to ignore the death of hope, though, and focus on continuing to fight against his captors and returning to Earth. He trains his ninja skills every day, before he heads into work on the engines (and, on the Bad Days, gets sent into the Arena for monsters to train themselves on), and ropes Mick and Redbot into helping him find a way out. None of the three of them want to stay on this ship- they all want a way to freedom.

Then, one day, Brody sees an opening to the Nexus Prism. And he takes it.

* * *

Preston Tien has pretty much given up on love.

- 

Brody stopped responding to Preston’s Marks when they were seven-years-old. Preston hadn't gotten too worried at first- because of Brody's father's training, Brody sometimes forgot to write for a couple of days at a time- but after weeks passed, after a month went by without Brody writing, he started to panic. 

In one of the few personal acts Preston’s father had ever done, he’d used his vast resources to track down the Romero family and their ranch, which had ended up just an hour away from Summer Cove.

The Romeros were gone, vanished off the face of the earth. The mother, Aadhya, died when Preston and Brody were three. Dane, the father, disappeared when Preston was seven. Aiden, the older brother, went into foster care at the same time and then, within a year or two, disappeared from the records.

And Brody? Brody was gone. He disappeared the same day his father did, and in all likelihood, Brody was dead.

Preston had cried himself to sleep the night his father told him, and the next day, he’d asked his father to buy him more sweaters and long-sleeve shirts. His father had obliged, and from then on had not asked Preston about his Soulmate again.

-

Preston buries himself in magic, in worlds where happy endings actually exist. He ignores the kids who call him ‘Soulless,’ who tease him for the fact that he never bares his arms. They don't matter, in the grand scheme of things. Someday soon, he's going to be out of high school and living a life of his own, away from these horrible people.

(He ignores the fact that as a kid, he had dreamed of being able to live his life not alone, but with Brody. Thinking about dead boys will do nothing for him.)

-

Sometimes, when Preston’s feeling particularly lonely, he writes on his arm. He doodles, writes reminders, all the things he would have told Brody if he had been alive.

Sometimes, he imagines what Brody may have looked like if he’d lived, if they’d gotten the chance to actually meet. He has no visual reference of Brody to go from- just a couple of passport photos of Brody's parents that Preston's father somehow got his hands on. He imagines what it would be like to fall in love with Brody, to show off his magic, to see Brody's ninja skills or whatever the seventeen-year-old version of Brody would have liked. 

(At the end of the day, Preston always hates himself for thinking about that kind of stuff. Brody Romero is dead, and he's not coming back. Wishing and dreaming will change nothing, and they always make his heart break even further when he remembers what real life is like.)

Then, one day his senior year of high school, Victor Vincent crashes into his magic show and Preston meets the new girl, who is the first person in years not to judge his long sleeves and magic act. He might actually have a chance at a friend for the first time in probably ten years.

* * *

When Brody dreamed of the day he would finally get to return to Earth, he never quite imagined that it would involve dropping him, Mick, Redbot, and the Nexus Prism down a trash chute, but he certainly isn’t complaining when he collapses into a forest.

He’s finally back on Earth. He’s finally back on the planet he was raised on, the world where Aiden and Preston are. His heart leaps in his chest as he helps Redbot up and the two of them marvel at Earth. It’s so green, so  _alive_ , the exact opposite of Galvanax's ship- just like Brody remembers.

Then a monster attacks, and Brody tries to fight back but is easily defeated. His human form, on its own, is nowhere near as possible as it needs to be to take down on of Galvanax's fighters.

He realizes that his comm is still working. He tries to access the ship’s computer to figure out how to defeat the monster, but it’s just as he recognized- he has no chance without weapons or allies. He’s well and truly screwed, and right when he's so close to finding Preston and Aiden. As he clutches at his ribs, the backs of his eyes burn with angry tears.

And then a girl and a boy on a hoverboard crash through the monster, and Brody might actually have a fighting chance.

He limps over to them- the monster really packed a punch- and says, “Thanks, you really saved my skin."

“No problem, but who are you?” The girl asks, “And why is that thing chasing you?”

Brody nearly answers, but then he sees the Nexus Prism glowing and heads over to look at it. “Those are great questions, but they’re gonna have to wait a bit,” Brody says as he heads over to the Prism, momentarily forgetting the injuries in his ribs in favor of examining the Nexus Prism.

“Whoa,” the girl says as the two kids follow him over to the Prism, “What are those?”

“They’re the Ninja Power Stars,” Brody explains.

“It’s glowing,” the boy remarks, a bit of wonder in his voice, and Brody nods.

“Like the Ninja Star did ten years ago,” Brody says, staring at the red star and remembering the day that so thoroughly ruined his life. “When my dad pulled it out.” He reaches forward to the star and finds his hand entering the Nexus Prism. His fingers clench around the Red Ninja Star and he finds himself pulling it out of the Nexus Prism.

Brody stands up and turns around, trying to remember what the star in his hand might be. He has been trying to keep up his father's ninja training over the past few years, balancing it in between his work, but he hasn't been able to practice with any weapons.

“Amazing,” the girl mutters, while the guy asks, stumbling over his words, “How...did did I just do that?”

“That’s impossible,” the girl says.

“I’m trying to remember,” Brody muses, “That thing crashed into our yard and my dad pulled a star out of the prism, just like we did. He turned into some sort of ninja Power Ranger,” Brody says, “Like the Jungle Fury team that was on the news, last I remember.” Brody turns back to look at the two kids and he finds the boy grinning and the girl’s eyes wide, ninja stars clutched between their fingers as well.

“Power Rangers?” the girl exclaims, “These stars turn people into  _Power Rangers_? That’s  _awesome_!”

“Follow exactly what I do and we may just save our skins,” Brody instructs. He doesn’t want these two kids to fall to this monster anymore than he would want Mick or Redbot to.

“Okay!” the boy shouts, following right after him, and the girl comes along a second later, echoing the boy’s fighting words.

Once in front of the monster, he finds the girl on his left side and the boy on his right. The monster threatens them, and Brody moves his right fist back into a fighting stance. To his shock, a Morpher appears in his hand- one that has a slot just perfectly shaped for his Ninja Star. He throws instructions over his shoulder: “Guys, do what I did!” Behind him, he can hear sounds of exclamation as the two kids pull off the same summoning trick that he did. 

The monster shoots a bolt of energy at them and Brody holds up his star as a shield. The energy collides with the Morpher, and he soon finds himself encased in a thin cocoon of red energy. It forms itself to his body, almost like a blanket, and a moment later he finds himself within a set of armor. He glances behind him and sees that the boy is in blue armor and the girl is in pink, both patterned after a ninja’s clothing.

“Check it out!” the boy shouts, “We’re fucking Power Rangers!”

The Power of the Ninja Star flows through Brody, and he can feel the pain in his ribs lessening as the Power wraps him, giving him the kind of strength he needs to take down this monster.

Then the three of them charge into battle.

-

They DeMorph after defeating the monster, and Brody turns to the other two. Now that the monster is gone, he has a chance to really look at them. It takes about fifteen seconds to pick up on a very strange detail about their clothing: the boy's arms are covered by long suit jacket sleeves, as opposed to the girl's bare ones. Brody isn't sure what to make of such a thing- from what he remembers of humans, they generally like to bare their arms to show their Soulmarks. Brody had always been happy that the slave uniforms had short sleeves and that his arms had always been easily visible. If Preston had written anything today, Brody’s Soulmarks would be clear for everyone to see. 

“And you guys are?” Brody asks.

“Sarah Thompson,” the girl says, sticking out a hand, and Brody remembers this gesture. He takes her hand and shakes it.

“And my name is Preston Tien,” the boy says, stretching a hand in a similar greeting, and Brody's heart freezes in his chest. There's no possible way that the boy he's been waiting to find for ten years is right here, a Power Ranger just like him.

“Preston?” he whispers, the word coming like a prayer to his lips. And it  _is_ a prayer- the names Preston and Aiden have been the center of Brody’s prayers for ten years now.

Preston- his Preston, the Soulmate he's been trying to get back to for ten years now- raises an eyebrow. “Yes?”

The words nearly catch in Brody's throat. “I'm Brody. Brody Romero.”

Preston's eyes go wide and he stumbles back slightly from Brody. “Brody? But- but you’re  _dead_.” Preston’s eyes narrow, his fists go up, and he shifts into a fighting stance- one that has Brody flinching back from Preston, because he  _knows_ that stance, has been thrown into the Arena as pummeling material for fighters using that stance. “Brody’s dead. Who the fuck are you and why are you pretending to be him?”

“I was captured by the alien Galvanax and his monsters ten years ago,” Brody says, begging Preston to understand. He has spent ten years struggling, fighting to escape and find Preston. He  _has_ to understand. “They were after the Nexus Prism and it landed on my family's farm. My father hid the Ninja steel that came with it, but Galvanax defeated him. One of Galvanax's minions captured me. I was taken to Galvanax's ship and I’ve been a slave for ten years now. I haven’t had access to any ink to write with. Mick and Redbot can speak up for me, I promise."

Preston looks like he wants to believe Brody, but there is still fear in his gaze. "There are no Marks on your arms," Preston says, "How can I be sure you're not just some sort of shapeshifting monster?"

Brody's brow furrows. "I don't know if Galavanax has any shapeshifters right now-"

Preston looks almost curious at that piece of information, but then he schools his expression into something more serious. "Either way, I can't trust you right now, not without the Marks."

“There's gotta be a way I can prove it,” Brody says, getting pretty desperate, and then looks to Sarah. “Sarah- you wouldn’t happen to have a pen, would you?”

Sarah shakes her head, expression apologetic. “I don’t have a Soulmate,” she says, “So I don’t carry around a pen.”

Brody’s heart falls. How is he to prove that he is Preston’s Soulmate, if he can’t make the Soulmarks to prove it? He’s spent so long trying to find his Soulmate- is he going to just lose Preston again, after all this time?

Preston’s face is conflicted, but to Brody’s shock he reaches into his back pocket with one hand and pulls out a pen, keeping up his other fist as he does so. He chucks the pen in Brody’s direction- Brody catches it- before raising his fist back up into a fighting stance. “Prove you’re him.”

“My handwriting’s probably really bad- I haven't written since I was seven- but this should work.” Brody then, in shaky, seven-year-old level handwriting, inscribes his name on his wrist. His skin pricks as he does so, unused to his own writing on his arm. Preston lowers his own fists, eyes going wide, and yanks back his own sleeve, revealing Brody’s untidy scrawl. His eyes then snap up to meet Brody’s.

“You’re really alive?” Preston asks, voice fragile, almost as if he’s afraid to believe that Brody’s really alive, and Brody nods.

“I’ve spent the the past ten years trying to find a way to get to you and my brother,” Brody says, still trying to explain, but Preston comes running to Brody, and a moment later Brody finds himself with Preston’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, Preston shaking against him. Brody reaches up his arms, unsure of what exactly to do. For the past ten years, the only person who has hugged him has been Mick (and the few unsuccessful attempts by Redbot to initiate an embrace). To be hugged by another human is strange enough- to be hugged by his Soulmate, even stranger still. Brody welcomes it, though. Preston’s hug is a nice sensation.

“I missed you a lot," Preston mutters into Brody's ear, and Brody can feel Preston's fingers clutching onto the fabric of the back of his uniform shirt.

"I missed you too," Brody says back, and for a moment, it is just them in each other's arms. Ten years of being stuck as a slave on an alien ship fade into the background- instead, there is only just the two of them, Brody and his Soulmate, holding each other. 

“Master Brody,” Redbot says, “I congratulate you on finding your Soulmate but I would like to remind you that we must go find Mick and the Ninja steel.”

Oh shit, Mick! The Ninja Steel! He has to find Aiden, has to protect the world from Galvanax, has to-

As he and Preston separate, Brody's hand finds its way into Preston's. Preston smiles at him, and Brody knows what the word beautiful means.

"We've gotta go find Mick and the Ninja Steel," Brody says, "But first let's hide the Nexus Prism," and Preston and Sarah nod.

"Do you think we can do it one-handed?" Preston asks, and Brody can't help but feel the same way. He doesn't want to let go of Preston, not after ten years unsure if he'd even see Preston.

"We can definitely try," Brody says, grin confident, because he's not going to let go. He  _never_ wants to let go.

"Then let's go save the world!" Sarah says, eyes bright, and Brody grins at her.

"Let's do it!"


End file.
